1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrical connector for interconnecting a device such as a battery pack to a circuit board.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In international patent application WO/97/45900 a battery connector is disclosed, terminals thereof comprising a printed circuit board connection portion for soldering on a printed circuit board, a contact protrusion projecting beyond a mating face of a connector housing for resiliently biasing against contact pads of a removable battery pack, and a spring portion extending between the contact and printed circuit board connection portions for providing the spring force and flexibility of the contact portion. In electronic devices comprising a plurality of printed circuit boards mounted in a stacked relationship, it is typical to provide a connector mounted on one of the boards, for example by soldering, and having compliant contact portions or even solder portions for connection to a second circuit board mounted in a stacked relationship with respect to the first board, for example as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,160. It is typical to provide such inter board connectors with terminals that transfer signal and electrical power between the boards. A battery pack or other power source is thus connected to one of the boards, and circuit traces on that board interconnect the power supplied to the first board, to an electrical connector that interconnects the boards.
The arrangement for interconnecting power supply between circuit boards as described above, increases cost and consumes space on the first circuit board due to the requirement for additional circuit traces, which may require a relatively large tracks to supply large currents. It would be desirable to provide a more cost effective and compact arrangement, in particular as concerns interconnection of an external device such as a battery pack to stacked printed circuit boards.